The Pirates fell behind early tonight, and a number of rallies got them within striking distance of the Marlins. Costly mistakes on defense, however, did them in.

It started in the first inning. A botched routine 1-3 putout by Adam LaRoche was quickly followed by a Hanley Ramirez 2-run shot to give Florida a 2-0 lead. Duke escaped a big jam in the fourth but still surrendered another run on a Ronny Paulino GIDP. Ah, Ronny Paulino. Remember him?

Andy LaRoche hit a solo shot to make it 3-1. Delwyn Young singled home ‘Cutch to make it 3-2 in the sixth. But that would be as close as the Bucs would get.

Duke loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 6th, but once he was one strike away from escaping the jam, he bounced a breaking ball past Robinzon Diaz to allow another run to score. It was particularly annoying because the pitcher was batting, and Duke quickly struck him out afterward.

Garrett Jones homered to get the run back, but the Pirates weren’t able to do anything else on offense for the rest of the night. Evan Meek allowed the fifth run after Emilio Bonifacio hit a triple (poorly played by Delwyn Young).

The loss was the Pirates’ first to the Marlins in five games against them this year.